Free Modern Girl's Guide to One-Night Stands by Gina Drayer

greet her. “Thank God. I was beginning to think it was just going to be Peter and me all weekend. Simon’s holed up in his room working, and then after our fight I was afraid you wouldn't come down.”
    “What fight?”
    “That one where I said you were hiding from the world.” Megan looped an arm around her waist, giving her a squeeze. “I'm sorry I was a bitch. You forgive me, don’t you? I had no right to say those things.”
    Julia sighed and hugged her back. “Of course you did. If I can’t count on you to call me on my bullshit, who can I count on? All is forgiven. I promise to be nice and participate in all the fun activities you have planned. Just don't push about the dating.”
    “Say no more. I get it. I won’t push. I just secretly hoped you’d fall madly in love with my brother and get married. Then we'd be sisters. But I don’t see that happening if the asshat won’t even leave the bedroom,” Megan yelled this last sentence up the stairs, presumably at her brother.
    “How about we just work on having a good weekend?” Julia said, wanting to put Simon out of her head.
    “I’m all for that.” Megan released her hold and started walking toward the back of the house, dragging Julia behind her. "Come out to the deck. We just opened a bottle of wine.”
    As Julia stepped out on the deck, she took a moment to enjoy the view. The house was situated on top of a hill that offered breathtaking views of the lake. She could sit out there for hours just taking in the gradual change of color and mood as the sun traveled across the sky. Despite the shock of meeting Simon for the second time, Julia was glad she’d decided to spend the summer out here. Her creative juices were in high gear.
    “Great, you’re here! I hope you’re feeling better,” Peter said and handed Megan a glass of wine. “Meg and I were just enjoying the nice weather. It’s supposed to turn unbearably hot and rain later.”
    “Yuck,” Megan said, taking a sip. “I hate the way it swings from cool to blazing hot this time of year. I wish it would just pick a temperature and stay there." She reclined in the lounge chair. “You may have to take us out on the boat after all. I don’t think I can talk Simon into it. He seems hell-bent on working all weekend.”
    “Sure, if the storms hold off.”
    He held out a glass for Julia and she declined. Her stomach was still in knots and she didn’t want to drink anything right now. She sat down on a lounge chair opposite Megan. “So, Simon isn’t joining us?” Julia asked, trying to keep her voice casual.
    “He’s too busy building his media empire. I don’t know why he bothered to come if all he was going to do was work.”
    “You’re being too hard on him,” Peter said, pushing Megan’s legs aside and sitting down at her feet. “The New York buyout didn’t go as smoothly as we thought it would. Simon’s in charge of the new division and it's been hell for him. But lord knows, he’s doing a better job than I would have. I’ll see if I can’t coax him out with the promise of scotch and sailing.”
    Megan talked a little more about what she wanted to do while the guys were visiting; boating and shopping made the top of her list. Peter offered a few suggestions and tried to lure Julia into the conversation with leading questions about what she wanted to do over the holiday weekend . But she was in a real funk and lousy company. At this point, there was only one thing that would help. Julia needed to grab her camera and get lost for an hour or ten.
    “Sure you don’t want something? I can get you a soda or some water,” Peter asked when he got up to get another bottle of wine.
    “A water would be great,” Julia said. While he was gone, she turned to Megan. Keeping her voice low, she asked, “You’re making a lot of plans. What about your book? Wasn’t that the whole purpose of coming out to the lake?”
    Megan kept her writing a secret. She’d gone from writing